


Someone Who Always Pays

by thundercaya



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dating, F/M, Gossip, Laser Tag, Renee Appreciation Week, Weddings, Workplace Warzone compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 15:31:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9908855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thundercaya/pseuds/thundercaya
Summary: “So are you free later this week?”Angelica was mildly disappointed; she had hoped he was going to say “later tonight.”





	1. Chapter 1

Another Schuyler sister married, and once again it wasn’t Angelica.

At least she didn’t have to make a speech this time. Eliza was Peggy’s maid of honor. Also a plus, Peggy wasn’t marrying someone that Angelica was in love with. The upsides ended there.

It wasn’t as if Angelica needed to be married to be happy. If she were an only child it would probably be the furthest thing from her mind. She’d move through life enjoying every aspect of it she could, and if love found her on its own, then so be it. But watching her sisters--her _younger_ sisters--find the loves of their lives while she seemed to be nowhere near that tended to put a bitter taste in her mouth.

Tonight she tried to wash out said taste with alcohol, but since Peggy hadn’t opted for an open bar, all Angelica had at her disposal were a few glasses of champagne. She couldn’t even steal any leftovers from another table, because everyone else was feeling the lack of a free bar as well. When the speeches were completed and the dancing was well underway, Angelica slipped out of the wedding hall and into the public area, in search of the hotel’s own bar.

Angelica set down her clutch bag on the bar top and took a seat on an empty stool. “Tom Collins,” she said to the bartender, pulling out her credit card. The bartender took her card then started on her drink. She sighed and slumped her shoulders as she waited.

“All dressed up with nowhere to go?” a voice asked beside her, something funny in the way he spoke. Angelica shot a side-eye in the speaker’s direction, but she turned towards him more fully when she got a glimpse of his face. As sad as his opener had been, he was fairly good-looking. Not as good-looking as a certain someone, but she reminded herself that that was a moot point.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” she replied, accepting her drink from the bartender. “Isn’t this somewhere?”

“I suppose it is,” the man replied, and with those few more words she realized that he had a British accent. “I still think you’re over-dressed. Not that you should be embarrassed about it. You look nice.”

“If you’re trying to flirt, you could try wording it better.”

The man winced. “Normally I pay people to word things better for me.” Before Angelica could ask him what he meant by that, he stuck out his hand. “I’m John Church.”

“Angelica Schuyler.”

John’s eyebrows shot up. “Daughter of Philip Schuyler, senator of this great state, which means the reason you’re dressed like this…” he flicked his finger down and back up, pointing at her pastel yellow bridesmaid dress, “is because your sister is getting married.”

Angelica gave a surprised laugh. “Maybe your accent gave me the wrong idea. Do you live in New York?”

John shook his head. “I’ve only been here a few days, but I did read the paper this morning. Not that it gave the name of the venue, but the staff have been chittering about it.”

“Angelica!”

She and John both turned towards the voice. Alex. There was no open stool beside Angelica, so he slid into place to stand next to her.

“Looks like we had the same idea,” he said, pointing at the bar with his thumb.

“Friend of yours?” John asked.

“This is my brother-in-law,” Angelica said.

“Pleased to meet you,” John said, nodding at Alex, “but isn't it bad form for the groom to leave the wedding?”

“Oh, no,” Angelica corrected. “Not my new brother-in-law.”

Alex eyed John suspiciously. Or was it jealously? Instead of returning John’s greeting he said; “Who's your friend, Angelica, and why didn't you bring him to the wedding?”

“This is John Church,” Angelica said. “We just met.” Alex furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to say something, but Angelica cut him off, pushing her drink into his hands. “Here, take mine. Go back to Eliza. She's probably looking for you.”

Alex still looked like he wanted to say something, but perhaps because of the mention of Eliza, he refrained. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “All right,” he said instead, “don't be too long yourself.” He shot John another disapproving glance before leaving.

“Sorry about that,” Angelica said. “He's… protective.”

“You should probably apologize to your sister first,” John said, arching an eyebrow.

“God, no,” Angelica said. “It’s not like that.”

“Glad to hear it,” John said with a smile. “So are you free later this week?”

Angelica was mildly disappointed; she had hoped he was going to say “later tonight.”

“I’m free now,” she offered.

John chuckled. “What about your sister’s wedding?”

“Eliza is the maid of honor. They won’t notice I’m gone.”

“Now that’s just not right. You should go go back and make them notice you. Besides, I would love to take you out to dinner and I’m sure you’ve already eaten.”

All right, she could delay it a day. “How about tomorrow night?”

John shook his head. “Tomorrow I can’t. I have a client dinner. But any other night, I’m free.”

“What kind of client?”

“I’m in advertising.”

“Oh, you write ads?”

John averted his gaze. “No, I don’t write them. I just deal with the clients, and uh, well, own the company.”

“Oh, that’s impressive.”

“Yeah, I guess,” John shrugged. “I, uh, tried my hand at writing copy, but I don’t really have a knack for it.” He pulled out his phone and handed it to her with the dialpad out. “Give me your number and we'll work something out. Like I said, I’m free every night the rest of the week. Not that you have to have dinner with me every night this week. I wouldn't mind that, though.”

“Let’s take it one day at at time,” Angelica said, dialing her number then handing the phone back to him. She pulled out her own phone and saved his number.

“Sounds great,” John said. “Now, I’m going to call this while it’s going well.” He rose from his stool. “You’ll hear from me tomorrow. And, uh, if you need help enjoying the wedding….” he got the bartender’s attention, “anything she wants, all right?”

The bartender nodded.

John flashed Angelica a smile. “Pleasure to meet you. Have a good night.”

  


Peggy and her new husband were off for their honeymoon the very next morning, but Angelica didn’t have to see Alex, Eliza, and her parents off at the airport for their flight back to DC until the evening. While they worked through their last-minute packing, Angelica settled down with some work she’d fallen behind on due to wedding preparations. When her phone buzzed, her heart gave an embarrassing little leap. She saved the manuscript she was editing on her tablet and checked the message on her phone.

_Hello, it’s John! I’d rather call than text, but I didn’t want to bother you if you were busy. Call me before seven so we can discuss our date._

Considerate of him. Not one to appear too eager when she hadn’t been drinking, she opened her file back up and finished the chapter she was on before calling. He seemed to have no such qualms, answering on the first ring.

“Angelica,” he greeted warmly. “I’m happy to hear from you. I was starting to think I was only interesting when compared to a dry wedding.”

Angelica chuckled. “It was only partially dry. And I don’t know if you’re interesting yet, since we didn’t talk much last night, but I’d like to find out.”

“Then I won’t give you too long to get your expectations up. How does tomorrow night sound?”

“Tomorrow sounds perfect.”

“Great. I don’t know the area that well yet, so unless you have a particular place you’d like to go, I’ll ask my client for a recommendation tonight.”

“I like surprises,” Angelica said. 

“Text me your address. I'll send a cab to pick you up at six? I'd come get you myself but I can't drive on your wrong-sided roads.”

“I have a car. I'll pick you up instead.”

“Well, what’s more expensive around here?” John joked. “Cab fare or parking?”

Angelica laughed. “It’s pretty close

  


When Angelica pulled up in front of the hotel, John was already standing outside.

“I was going to call you when I got here,” Angelica said as he climbed into the car.

“Didn’t want to keep you waiting,” John said. “And I was maybe a bit excited, too. It’s great to see you again.”

Angelica smiled. “You, too. So where are we headed?”

  


Predictably, they founds themselves at an Italian restaurant, and it turned out to be one Angelica was familiar with. She ordered her usual while John ordered based on his client's suggestion.

“So if you’re seeing clients,” Angelica said as they waited for their food, “I take it you’re not here on vacation.”

“You would be correct,” John said. “I'm spending the summer at my US branch, to make sure they're doing things right. Uh, at the same time, though, I also want to see if they're doing anything better that I can take back to the London branch.”

“Well, that’s very smart,” Angelica said. “Someone who thinks they already have all the answers can’t learn anything new.”

“That is very true. So, uh, you know what I do. What do you do?”

“I edit manuscripts. Mostly non-fiction. History, usually.”

John nodded. “I would probably find that very boring.”

Angelica pursed her lips.

“What I mean,” John said hurriedly, “is that you’re obviously very smart and have a very good attention span to be able to do job where you spend most of your time reading, especially since I’m sure a lot of it is pretty dry. I’ve read a few books that didn’t drain the excitement out of history, but I’ve also had to put plenty down that I just couldn’t get through. You don’t have the option to do that. That’s what I was trying to say.”

“Well, there are some pretty bad ones, occasionally,” Angelica admitted, “but for the most part I find it all very fascinating.”

John lifted his glass. “Well, here’s to doing what you love.”

  


Angelica dropped John back off at his hotel after dinner, that bit of rockiness in their conversation enough to keep her from going for an invite upstairs or even a kiss, but not enough for her to decline his offer for a second date.

When Angelica’s phone rang the next day around the time most working people had lunch, Angelica picked it up off her desk, hoping it would be John calling to make arrangements. Instead it was her father. Well, if he was using his lunch break to call her, it was best not to keep him waiting.

“Hello, Daddy,” she greeted.

“Angelica sweetheart. How are you?”

“I’m great,” she said. “Getting a lot of work done now that things have quieted down.”

“That’s good, that’s good. Anything else going on? Anything at all?”

“Uh…, not really, no.”

“No dates with strange men you met at hotels?”

“Alex,” Angelica hissed to herself. Into the phone she said; “Does it matter?”

“I just want you to be careful, sweetheart.” 

“Daddy, this is how normal people find partners. They meet people out on the street. It’s not a big deal.”

“Angelica, listen, just because your sisters are married doesn't mean you have to go find a partner right now. Besides, this guy is probably bad news. I’ve dealt with ad men before. He probably just wants a beautiful charming wife to take to client dinners so you can make him look better than he is.”

“I didn't tell you he was in advertising.”

“I'm not a caveman, Angelica. I found him on the Google. In all the articles I've read there was no mention of a wife or girlfriend. At his age? Don't you think it's strange? He might be gay.”

“I didn't approach him. He approached me.”

“Plenty of gay men date and marry women to get by in this world. In his line of business it’s almost a necessity.”

“He seems to be doing just fine on his own,” Angelica said. “Shouldn’t you be happy that somebody likes me?”

“Everyone should like you, sweetheart. Just do me a favor and be smart about this.”

“I will,” Angelica said. “Can you do me a favor too?”

Her father huffed out a laugh, probably ready for a reprimand. “Of course. What is it?”

“Don’t talk to Alex anymore.”

“Well, you know the one who has a problem not talking is him.”

“Yes, I know that very well, but try anyway. Now, I have to get back to work, and you should too. Don’t worry about me, okay?”

“Okay, I’ll try. Both things.”

Once she got off the phone with her father, Angelica took a few moments to collect herself, then she dialed up Eliza. The phone rang several times before she picked up, which wasn’t surprising since Eliza was usually busy with the children.

“Angelica!” she answered brightly. “I'm so glad you called! Your namesake drew a picture of you in your bridesmaid dress.”

“Eliza,” Angelica tried to cut in.

“I'm going to drop it in the mail but I want to scan it first i case it gets lost but I keep forgetting.”

“Eliza.”

“I'll do it right now while I have you on the phone.”

“Elizabeth, that's really sweet of her, and I'm looking forward to seeing it, but there's a reason I called you.”

“Yes, dear what is it?”

“Can you please tell Alexander to stay out of my damn business?”

Eliza sighed. “Well, you know him. I'm sure it won't do very much good, but I can try. So. what did he do?”

“He told Daddy I was seeing someone. I'm surprised he didn't tell you.”

“He actually did,” Eliza admitted, “but I wasn't going to bring it up until you were ready to talk about it.”

“I wish Daddy felt the same way. He called me up to lecture me.”

“Don’t worry about what Daddy says,” Eliza dismissed. “He's just worried about you because you're his favorite.”

“I am not.”

“Of course you are,” Eliza insisted. “That's why he was always so much stricter on you.”

“I still don’t think--” Angelica’s phone started beeping in her ear. “Eliza, I have to let you go. I’m getting another call.” She hoped it was John this time. “Tell the kids hi and thank Angie for my drawing.”

“Will do. Goodbye.”

The call was not from John, but from Peggy. Angelica sighed and answered. “Hello, Peggy!” she said, not allowing herself to sound disappointed. Her sister was taking time from her honeymoon to call. She should be happy about that.

“Angelica!” Peggy greeted. “I just got off the phone with Daddy! Why didn't you tell me you met a hot rich guy at my wedding?”

Angelica groaned. Goddammit, Alex. 


	2. Chapter 2

Once Peggy was back from her honeymoon she insisted on meeting with Angelica to hear all the juicy details.

“There aren’t any,” Angelica admitted over coffee in Peggy’s new living room. “Trust me, I’m just as disappointed as you are.”

“He does like you though, right?” Peggy asked, refilling the souvenir mugs she’d sent back from Walt Disney World.

“He seems to,” Angelica shrugged. “He keeps asking me to go out again, so he has to, right?”

“He’s probably just being gentlemanly,” Peggy said. “Or he’s being shy. Either way, I bet if you made a move he’d go for it.”

“I hope so.”

“Well, if everything goes well, I’d love to meet him. We all would, actually. Daddy, Mom, Eliza. Alex wants to be re-introduced to him, too.”

“Oh, Alex is definitely last on the list of people I want talking to him,” Angelica said.

Peggy giggled. “Hey Angelica, remember when _I_ was the most annoying person in the family?”

“You weren’t that annoying, Pegster.”

“You say that now, but you tried to kick me out of your eighth grade graduation party for telling your crush that you liked him."

“Are you trying to say that I should forgive Alex?”

“God, no!” Peggy said. “I’m just saying I’m glad it’s not me anymore.”

  


On her date with John, that night, Angelica took Peggy’s advice, not pulling out of the parking spot at the restaurant right away and instead going for a kiss. As Peggy predicted, John responded readily, a large warm hand settling on the back of Angelica’s head to keep the contact firm. When they broke apart John was grinning.

“I can’t tell you how glad I am you just did that,” he said. “I’ve just been emboldened.”

“Yes?” Angelica prompted, hoping this would lead to that coveted invite to his hotel.

“I was worried that this might seem a bit fast, but I don’t have a lot of time here so I’d like to pin this down now if I can. I really like you a lot, and it would make me very happy if you would be my sweetheart. Us meeting at that bar is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You’re so beautiful, and it’s not just that. You’re smart and kind, and you’re probably very funny.”

Angelica was jolted out of her moment of joy. “Probably?” she repeated.

“I don’t get some of your jokes,” John admitted, “but I’m pretty sure that’s my fault.”

Angelica smiled warmly. “Well, next time you don’t get one, let me know and I’d be happy to explain it to you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” John said. “And as for my question?”

“Yes,” Angelica said. “I’d like that a lot. But could we call it something else? My father calls me sweetheart.”

John chuckled. “Understood. Will you be my girlfriend, then?”

“John, I would love to.”

  


There was still no invite upstairs, but Angelica felt like they were making progress. If not for the deadline, he might be moving even slower, so as much as she didn’t want him to leave either, she was glad he was taking that deadline as motivation rather than a deterrent. Since he had responded positively to her changing things up, she decided to try something other than yet another dinner or coffee date. Maybe that might set the scene for taking another step.

Angelica shot a text off to John.

_Dress casual tonight! T-shirt and jeans!_

He responded immediately. _Are we going to the famous Dennys?_

_No, we’ll just grab something really quick. After that I have a surprise for you and you’re not going to want to be in dress shoes._

_  
_

When Angelica picked up John he was dressed in a t-shirt and khakis.

“Don’t tell  me you’re too good for jeans,” she said, passing him a cheeseburger she had picked up on the way to his hotel.

John chuckled, unwrapping his burger. “I own jeans, I just didn’t pack any for this particular trip. I was originally here for business, you know.”

“Well, tonight you’re here for pleasure.”

“Yes, this trip has very much been a pleasure since I met you.”

“Of course it has,” Angelica said with a grin, “but tonight is different.”

John flashed an uncomfortable smile. “Should I be scared?”

“Only if you don’t like laser tag.”

“Laser tag?”

  


John, as it turned out, had never played laser tag. He had no aversion to it, he assured Angelica--it had just never come up.

“It’s really easy,” Angelica said as they entered the building. “Or, I guess what I should say is that it’s the kind of thing where it’s still fun even if you’re bad at it.”

“That’s what my uncle said about paintball. Then he shot me in the crotch.”

Angelica snorted. “Well, when you get hit in laser tag, the only thing that hurts is your pride, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy this much more than paintball.”

“Well, there weren’t any children when I went paintballing,” John said, looking around at the various birthday party tables. “If one of these halflings beats me, it just might hurt more.”

“Do you have a nickname ready?” Angelica asked when the employee at the desk handed her the sign-up sheet.

“Can’t I just be John?”

“You need something to differentiate yourself,” Angelica said. “Do you have any idea how many people are named John?”

“I’m regularly given someone else’s coffee at Starbucks,” John said. “I have a pretty good idea.”

“Oh, a coffee theme could be fun!”

“I’m afraid my coffee order is even more common than my name.”

“Well, what do you eat with your coffee?” Angelica prompted.

“Uh… jelly donut, usually.”

“Perfect!” Angelica said, jotting that down. “And I need to match up with you a least a little bit, so I’ll be… peanut butter.”

“Excellent brainstorming there,” John said. “You’d fit right in with my creative team.”

  


They were both exhausted by the end of the third round, and they let everyone else get their score sheets first. John handed Angelica hers then scanned his own. “Let's see, high score goes to … KakashiQT.”

“I can't believe you won again!” a small boy whined at a girl whose party John and Angelica had passed on their way in. The girl, twelve years old according to her party balloons, smiled smugly.

“It's my way of the ninja.”

John pulled his mouth into a tight line, then inhaled sharply. “I lost to a tweenage otaku.”

Angelica put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, we both lost to her.” She grinned then. “But you did lose to her worse.”

  


“I hope I didn’t drag you too far out of your comfort zone tonight,” Angelica said as she pulled into the temporary parking at John’s hotel.

“Despite my being a really poor sport, I had a really great time,” John assured. “Thank you.”

Angelica grinned. “You’re very welcome.” She leaned in and gave him a kiss, which he returned eagerly.

John gave a contented sigh when he pulled back. “Well, good night.”

“John?” Angelica said, making him freeze with his hand on the door handle.

“Yes?”

“Speaking of coming out of comfort zones, don't you think it's time you invited me up for coffee?”

John stiffened. “You want coffee? There's an all night coffee shop down the street. Hotel room coffee is so-”

“John, maybe it's different where you're from, but around here, inviting someone for coffee doesn't mean coffee.”

John stared out the windshield. “I know what it means.”

“Then…?”

“I’m waiting.”

“Oh.” Angelica cleared her throat. “For?”

“Until I want children.”

Angelica felt like she was in the Twilight Zone. Wasn't America supposed to be the country with the subpar sex education? “You know there are things you can do to have sex without having children, right?”

“Yes, but if it's not to have children, I have no desire to have sex.”

“You mean you don’t want to have sex with me?”

John turned to her. “No, it's not you. I love you. Just… in general. It's... not my thing.”

“Are you sure you're not… gay?”

“No, of course I’m not,” John said. “I asked you out.”

“There are reasons that a man might ask a woman out without liking women. It's okay, John, but you need to be honest with me.”

“I am being honest,” he insisted. “I like women.”

“But you won't sleep with them?”

“I don’t sleep with men, either, but I also don’t date them. Look, I don’t normally care if someone thinks I’m gay, but if it’s the woman I’m in love with, then that’s a problem, isn’t it?”

“Okay, I… I believe you,” Angelica said. “I just don’t… get it.”

John shook his head and gave a defeated sigh. “Well, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Should I guess what I’ll hear next? ‘I’m sorry, John, but you’re just not what I’m looking for?’”

Was that what she wanted to say? This definitely wasn’t what she thought she was looking for, but now that she was here with John could she really say it wasn’t what she wanted?

Angelica took a deep breath. “Listen, what this comes down to is that I like you and I don't want to say goodnight yet. I'd very much like to come up to your room and if all we do is order room service and watch bad overnight programming, then that's fine.”

For a long moment, John looked everywhere but at her, then he met her eyes.

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

John pulled out his wallet. “Take my spare key card,” he said, handing the card to her. “Room 503. I'll take care of your car.”

“I thought you couldn't drive on the wrong side?”

“I can handle driving five meters.”

  


When Angelica entered the hotel room she realized she didn't have anything to change into. If she dressed down to her underwear or undressed entirely that could come off as an advance. Fortunately for her, John seemed to have had trouble deciding what to wear that night, and there were several t-shirts and other articles of clothing laid out on his bed.

Angelica was lounging on the bed when John entered. He eyed her in a Manchester United t-shirt and a pair of his boxers. 

“You look adorable,” he said.

“And you looks like someone who has had a very exhausting night,” Angelica said. “Why don’t you come lie down?”

  


They spent the night watching Murder She Wrote. John pointed out his commercials and criticized all the rest of them.

“It's okay, but it doesn't have any punch.”

“What would you do to give it more punch?”

“That's not my job, but my team could make it way punchier.”

  


There was no sunlight thanks to the blackout curtains. Angelica was starting to consider getting some for her own home. John’s arms were around her, his body solid against her back. He held her like something precious, and hadn’t she always wanted to be held that way? She could feel his breath as he pressed kisses into her hair. It was so calm and quiet that she startled a bit when he spoke, but she settled right back down, eyes slipping closed once more.

“I can come and go as I please,” he said. “I can split my time between New York and London easily. There’s always work to be done both places and I love flying, But it would make me exceedingly happy if, when I’m in London, you’d be there too.”

“I have to think,” Angelica said, lest he take her pondering silence the wrong way. She could certainly work from London just as easily as she could from New York. The bigger issue was her family. Not being apart from them, so much. Most of them spent the larger part of their time in DC. It was more what they would think. Her father, in particular, wouldn’t be happy with her galavanting off to Europe with someone she’d only known for a few months. Of course she’d already set someone aside before because of her father’s approval, so why would she again?

“I don’t think I can say right now that I’ll be there with you always,” Angelica said, “but I can say I’ll be there _often_.”

John gave her a squeeze. “I can accept often. Any amount of you in my life, I can accept.”

  


Angelica spent most of the last few weeks of John’s stay at his hotel room. She checked on the house daily as one of her errands, but mostly she did her work from his room and waited for him to come back. When she spoke to her family she told them that she was still seeing John, but she didn’t elaborate on just how much time she was spending with him these days. Her parents would insist that she was moving too fast. Her sisters would want to know how John was staying off of her when they were around each other so much. She still didn’t understand it herself, and it wasn’t easy keeping off of him either, but at least once they had a clear boundary, John was comfortable enough to show her that he was good with his hands.

  


When Angelica returned to the hotel room after visiting the house, she found John seated on the bed. He was staring down at his hands, which were clasped in his lap.

“Oh, hi, I thought I would beat you back,” Angelica said, closing the door.

“Got out a bit early,” John said. “Will you sit with me?”

Angelica took a seat next to him. “Is everything okay?”

John flashed a quick, nervous smile. “Everything’s fine. I just have something on my mind.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Oh, yes, absolutely,” John said. “But it’s incredibly important and I am absolutely terrified of messing it up.”

Angelica leaned in and planted a kiss on his shoulder. “How about you try it? And if it doesn’t come out right, you try it again?”

John nodded and pulled in a deep breath before standing and facing Angelica. “Not too long ago, you told me that you didn’t want to say good night. Well, I don’t want to say good bye. Not ever.” He reached into his pocket and dropped down to one knee. “Angelica, will you be Mrs. Church-Schuyler?”

“Oh my God,” Angelica whispered. “Oh my God. Oh my--Why not Schuyler-Church?”

John grinned. “Because this name is going on my business. Schuyler Church sounds like a religious facility, and while I certainly worship you, that isn’t what my brand is about.”

Through tears, Angelica laughed. “That was pretty good.”

“Good enough for a yes?” John asked hopefully.

Angelica grabbed his shirt and pulled him up to kiss her. “I would have said yes regardless.”

John slipped the ring on her finger and dropped the box. He laid her down on the bed, kissing her more fully. When he pulled back he said; “now for part two.”

“There’s a part two?” Angelica asked breathlessly.

“Yes. Angelica, come to London. Not in a month. Not in a week. Tomorrow. Just say the word and I’ll have a seat for you in first class.”

“You travel first class?”

“Coach, normally, but I’ll upgrade if that’s what it takes. Once we land we can get the paperwork going for our marriage. Unless I missed something in the law, we can be husband and wife within two weeks.”

Angelica patted John’s chest and he climbed off of her, allowing her to sit up.

“I didn’t realize you wanted to get married so soon.”

“If that changes your answer--” John said hurriedly, but Angelica cut him off with a kiss.

“It just makes the yes more emphatic,” she said. “Though I do have to figure out really quickly what I’m going to tell my family.”

“We can talk about that over dinner,” John said. “But there is one more thing that we should talk about… _not_ over dinner.”

“Is it the sex thing?” Angelica asked. “It’ll be hard for me, but I’m sure I can--”

John cut her off with kiss of his own. “I don’t doubt you at all,” he said. “Still, I've been thinking about that and I might have a solution. How do you feel about open relationships?”

Angelica was momentarily stunned, then she hook her head to reorganize her thoughts. “I have to admit I never thought about it.” Jokes about sharing Alex didn't count; she'd never seriously considered it.

“There's all different kinds depending on what the participants are comfortable with,” John said. “And if we try something and it turns out we don’t like it, we can try something else.”

“I’ll consider it,” Angelica said. “But that’s not important right at the beginning. My family, and the wedding--courthouse, right?”

“That would be the fastest way, yes.”

“Okay, so we focus on that first, and the rest… we can talk about in first class.”

John grinned, grabbing his phone. “One first class ticket for Angelica Church-Schuyler, coming right up.”


End file.
